Douglas Mawson
(1909, 1934) |
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Sir Douglas Mawson
Mawson was born in England and was brought to Australia as an infant. He completed degrees in mining engineering and geology at the
After his participation in Shackleton's expedition, Mawson became the principal instigator of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911–1914). The expedition explored thousands of kilometres of previously unexplored regions, collected geological and botanical samples, and made important scientific observations. Mawson was the sole survivor of the three-man Far Eastern Party, which travelled across the Mertz and Ninnis Glaciers named after his two deceased companions. Their deaths forced him to travel alone for over a month to return to the expedition's main base.
Mawson was knighted in 1914 and during World War I worked with the British and Russian militaries. He returned to the University of Adelaide in 1919 and became a full professor in 1921, contributing much to Australian geology. He returned to the Antarctic as the leader of the
Early life
Mawson was born on 5 May 1882 to Robert Ellis Mawson and Margaret Ann Moore. He was born in Shipley, West Riding of Yorkshire, but was less than two years old when his family emigrated to Australia and settled at Rooty Hill, now in the western suburbs of Sydney. Later he and his family moved to the inner-Sydney suburb of Glebe in 1893. He attended Forest Lodge Public School, Fort Street Model School and the University of Sydney, where he graduated in 1902 with a Bachelor of Engineering degree.[2]
Early work
He was appointed geologist to an expedition to the
Nimrod Expedition
Mawson joined
During their stay, they also wrote, illustrated and printed the book Aurora Australis. Mawson contributed with the science fiction short-story Bathybia.[4][5]
Australasian Antarctic Expedition
Mawson turned down an invitation to join Robert Falcon Scott's
The expedition, using the ship
Mawson's exploration program was carried out by five parties from the Main Base and two from the Western Base. Mawson himself was part of a three-man sledging team, the
After a brief service, Mawson and Mertz turned back immediately. They had one week's provisions for two men and no dog food but plenty of fuel and a Primus stove. They sledged for 27 hours continuously to obtain a spare tent cover they had left behind, for which they improvised a frame from skis and a theodolite. Their lack of provisions forced them to use their remaining sled dogs to feed the other dogs and themselves:[10]
Their meat was tough, stringy and without a vestige of fat. For a change we sometimes chopped it up finely, mixed it with a little pemmican, and brought all to the boil in a large pot of water. We were exceedingly hungry, but there was nothing to satisfy our appetites. Only a few ounces were used of the stock of ordinary food, to which was added a portion of dog's meat, never large, for each animal yielded so very little, and the major part was fed to the surviving dogs. They crunched the bones and ate the skin, until nothing remained.
— Mawson, Chapter XIII. "Toil and Tribulation" p. 170, Home of the Blizzard (1914)
There was a quick deterioration in the men's physical condition during this journey. Both men suffered
It was unknown at the time that high levels of vitamin A are toxic to humans, causing liver damage, and that husky liver contains extremely high levels of the vitamin.[12] With six dogs between them (with a liver on average weighing one kilogram or 2.2 pounds), it is thought that the pair ingested enough liver to cause the toxicity syndrome hypervitaminosis A, which can be fatal. Mertz may have eaten more of the liver because he had been used to a vegetarian diet, and so may have found the tough muscle tissue difficult to eat, thus being exposed to greater toxicity than Mawson.[13]
Mawson continued the final 161 kilometres (100 mi) alone. During his return trip to the Main Base he fell through the lid of a crevasse, and was saved only by his sledge wedging itself into the ice above him. He managed to climb out using the harness attaching him to the sled.
When Mawson finally made it back to
The expedition was the subject of David Roberts' book Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration.
Home of the Blizzard
In his book The Home of the Blizzard, Mawson talked of "Herculean gusts" on 24 May 1912 which he learned afterwards "approached two hundred miles per hour".[16]: 94 Mawson reported that the average wind speed for March was 68 miles per hour (109 km/h); for April, 52.5 miles per hour (84.5 km/h); and for May, 67.799 miles per hour (109.112 km/h).[17] These katabatic winds can reach around 300 km/h (190 mph) and led Mawson to dub Cape Denison "the windiest place on Earth".[18][19]
Later life
Mawson married Francisca Adriana (Paquita) Delprat (daughter of the metallurgist
Upon his retirement from teaching in 1952 he was made an emeritus professor of the University of Adelaide. He died at his
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Mawson in 1914
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Mawson in 1926
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Caricature by Sir David Low
Legacy
In 1948,
His image appeared on several postage stamps of the Australian Antarctic Territory: 5 pence (1961),[22] 5 pence (1961), 27 cents and 75 cents (1982),[23] 10 cents (2011),[24] 45 cents (1999).[25]
His image appeared from 1984 to 1996 on the
Mawson (postcode 2607) is a suburb of Canberra, district of Woden Valley, Australian Capital Territory. The suburb was gazetted in 1966 and is named after him. The theme for street names in this area is Antarctic exploration.
In 2011, Ranulph Fiennes included Mawson in his book My Heroes: Extraordinary Courage, Exceptional People.
In 2013 the "Australian Mawson Centenary Expedition", led by Chris Turney and Chris Fogwill, undertook a voyage to investigate Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic oceanography, climate and biology. Their ship, the MV Akademik Shokalskiy, became trapped in ice.[27] The expedition later visited Mawson's huts at Cape Denison on Commonwealth Bay.[28]
After the release of Mawson's journals and other expedition records, some historians have questioned Mawson's navigation, risk-taking and leadership.[6]
In December 2013, the first opera to be based on Mawson's 1911–1914 expedition to Antarctica, The Call of Aurora (by Tasmanian composer Joe Bugden)[29] was performed at The Peacock Theatre in Hobart. The Call of Aurora investigates the relationship between Douglas Mawson and his wireless operator, Sidney Jeffryes, who developed symptoms of paranoia and had to be relieved of his duties.
In 2019, Australian Dance Theatre presented the premiere of South by Artistic Director Garry Stewart in Adelaide. The acclaimed contemporary dance work reflects upon the treacherous journey across the wilds of eastern Antarctica undertaken by Mawson and his ill-fated team in the summer of 1912–1913. Garry Stewart won Outstanding Achievement in Choreography for South in 2019 at the Australian Dance Awards, presented by AusDance. The work has since toured regional South Australia.
David Roberts' account of Mawson's AAE expedition, Alone on the Ice, and the deadly effect of dog liver are referenced in the plot of an episode of British television series New Tricks, where it is used to commit the almost-perfect murder.
The Mawson Trail in South Australia is also named after him.
Minor planet
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The Mawson Laboratories at the University of Adelaide.
Burial
Sir Douglas was buried at the historic cemetery of St Jude's Church, 444 Brighton Road, Brighton, South Australia, in 1958. 35°1′1.99″S 138°31′26.89″E / 35.0172194°S 138.5241361°E
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Sir Douglas Mawson's grave at St Jude's, at Brighton, South Australia
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- Main plaque on the granite boulder marking the grave of
- Sir Douglas Mawson
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Plaque acknowledging gift of the boulder fromArkaroola marking Mawson's grave, from the Spriggfamily
References
- ^ .
- ^ Melbourne University Press(MUP); National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. pp. 454–457. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
- ^ https://royalsoc.org.au/images/pdf/journal/140_Branagan.pdf
- ^ Douglas Mawson: Home - Library Guides
- ^ Aurora Australis – Bathybia
- ^ South Australia Museum in Adelaide. Cited by Andrew Luck-Baker, Douglas Mawson: An Australian hero's story of survival, BBC News, 27 February 2014.
- ^ CDWS-1 Air tractor tail
- ^ Australian Antarctic Division (2013). "Mawson's Huts Historic Site Management Plan 2013-2018" (PDF). Australian Antarctic Division. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 April 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
- ^ Douglas Mawson 1882-1958 www.south-pole.com
- ^ Mawson, Sir Douglas (2009) [Autumn 1914]. Geoffrey Cowling; David Widger (eds.). The Home of the Blizzard: Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911–1914. London, UK: Project Gutenberg.
- ISBN 1-58642-000-3
- .
- Mawson, Douglas (1915). "VI: Autumn Prospects". The home of the blizzard: Being the story of the Australasian Antarctic expedition, 1911–1914. Philadelphia: Lippincott. pp. 99–110.[failed verification]
Sources
- Bickel, Lennard [1977] (2001). This Accursed Land, foreword by Sir Edmund Hillary, Edinburgh: Birlinn Ltd. ISBN 1-84158-141-0.
- ISBN 0-330-36157-0
- Hall, Lincoln (2000) Douglas Mawson, The Life of an Explorer New Holland, Sydney ISBN 1-86436-670-2
- Jacka, F. J. "Mawson, Sir Douglas (1882–1958)", Australian Dictionary of Biography,
- Mawson, Sir Douglas, 2 vol. (1915) The Home of the Blizzard, being the story of the Australasian Antarctic expedition, 1911–1914. London: Ballantyne Press.
- The home of the blizzard: Being the story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911–1914. Vol. I. London: W. Heinemann. 1915.
- The home of the blizzard: Being the story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911–1914. Vol. II. London: W. Heinemann. 1915.
- Roberts, Peder (2004). "Fighting the 'microbe of sporting mania': Australian science and Antarctic exploration in the early 20th century". Endeavour. Vol. 28, no. 3 (published September 2004). pp. 109–113. PMID 15350758.
- Turney, Chris (2013), 1912: The Year the World Discovered Antarctica. Melbourne: Text Publishing.
Further reading
- Jacka, Fred; Jacka, Eleanor, eds. (1988). Mawson's Antarctic Diaries. London, Sydney and Wellington: Unwin Hyman. ISBN 0-04-320209-8.
- ISBN 9780393240160.
- "Mawson's Antarctic Newspaper", article in www.TheGlobalDispatches.com. Retrieved 9 January 2013
- Mawson, Douglas (Sir) (1882–1958) National Library of Australia, Trove, People and Organisation record for Sir Douglas Mawson
- Douglas Mawson in Antarctica
- Hurley, Frank. Collection of Photographic Prints. Images of Mawson Expedition 1911–14 held at Pictures Branch, National Library of Australia, Canberra
- National Archives of Australia, Records of BANZARE, Australian Antarctic Division, Department of External Affairs etc., personal papers of Baron Casey papers (M1129, A10299), Charles Francis Laseron, and P G Law (MP1002/1)
- "Sir Douglas Mawson, the unsung hero of Antarctica, gets his due at last", Paul Harris, The Observer, 26 January 2013
- E.M. Suzyumov (1960, 1968). A life given to the Antarctic. Douglas Mawson – Antarctic Explorer. Adelaide, Libraries Board of South Australia. Translated from the Russian. First published in "Remarcable Geographers and Travellers", State Publishing House of Geographical Literature, Moscow, 1960.